Microsoft Adding Blogs to Longhorn?

prostoalex writes "A Microsoft Research project called 'Wallop' has weblogging and document-sharing features and will be integrated into the next-generation Microsoft OS. In related news, MSN is being split into two subdivisions, one of which will take care of communications tools (Messenger, Passport, Hotmail, ISP service), while the other will deal with Web properties (MSN.com, etc.)"

Comments

What next?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot adding blogs?! HAHAHA... err, oh wait.

Re:What next?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are so many stories about Microsoft, Slashdot should give them their own section! Oh, wait...

Re:What next?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude I'm sold. Blogs duuuuuuude. That is so sweeeeet.

Lose Linux, long live Longhorn!!!

Re:What next?

[CmdrTortilla]

Yes, so innovative.

For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[Altima(BoB)]

Remember the slashdot story a couple days ago (Cannot find link right now) about the Microsoft employee who got fired for posting pics of MS's new G5s on his blog? Who knows, maybe there will be hidden "features" in this that will only help MS. Then again, I'm paranoid.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[cgranade]

Let's take that ball and run with it, shall we? If there is an anti-MS post that gets /.ed, and it is hosted on MS's servers, howlong do you think it would take for MSN to cite the user on violation of terms of service?

Terms of Service
...
Section 42: Your rights.
Rights? You don't need no stinkin' rights! By this paragraph, if we don't like something on your site, that's it. Your account is terminated, your copy of Windows DOA is deauthorized, you get reported to Ashcroft as a dissenter, and the men in dark sunglasses pay you a little visit! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[ForestGrump]

Him working for M$, maybe he was using a pre-relase version of M$ Blog.
The software is self-aware, and calls home to report "Crimes against M$"

So after him losing his job, NO THANKS. I'll stick with my unaware nobody-calling blog.

-grump

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[ScottSpeaks!]

Maybe it'll also have content restrictions embedded in it. Rememember the Frontpage 2002 EULA which forbade its use "in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft" (to say nothing not allowing the user to "promote racism, hatred or pornography")? Which would be even more problematic if applied to the OS itself. The racism and hatred provisions wouldn't be a problem for me (unless you count general misanthropy), but between the other two, I'd have to cut my blogging in half.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[jest3r]

Remember the slashdot story a couple days ago about the Microsoft

There has been at least 14 articles relating to Microsoft in the past 2 days ... its getting hard to remember which is which ... this might as well be M$.com

http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=microsoft

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[TomV]

the best way for Moft to keep an eye on their employees' blogs is to encourage them to run them at Moft sites like ASP.net and gotdotnet.com.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[Steve Franklin]

What? They still haven't figured out how to purify water and dispense it through a 5 1/4" drive? Somebody, PLEASE, explain to these guys the difference between an operating system and software!

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[AKnightCowboy]

Let's take that ball and run with it, shall we? If there is an anti-MS post that gets /.ed, and it is hosted on MS's servers, howlong do you think it would take for MSN to cite the user on violation of terms of service?

How is that any different than the moderation mob on Slashdot? Try saying anything (anything!) against Linux, Open Source, Slashdot, etc. and you will get moderated as a troll/flamebait, etc. I don't see why Microsoft's moderators can't do the same thing to anti-Microsoft material if they feel like it. We clearly do it here for pro-Microsoft stuff.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[Minna Kirai]

How is that any different than the moderation mob on Slashdot?

It's different because on Slashdot, you can browse at -1. Moderators can never delete a post, just push it down a little.

And downmods can't terminate your account, either. Violating Microsoft(tm) TOS could get you whole access suspended. Just look at OCG; he gets modded into the dirt every few days, but he's still sticking around.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[jonadab]

> Your account is terminated, your copy of Windows DOA is deauthorized, you
> get reported to Ashcroft as a dissenter, and the men in dark sunglasses pay
> you a little visit! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Heh, let them come. The men in dark glasses may find it a little hard to see,
when they come to visit me; I keep my place pretty dark. When I switch off
the computer monitor, all that's left most of the time are a few LEDs. So
they'll need nightvision equipment. Then they'll meet my dog, Wuss (who's
very friendly, being a cross between a St. Barnard and a Great Dane), and
while he's busy licking them to death, I'll put in my earplugs and activate
my alarm system (based on air compressor and train whistles, wired together
with a logic board hooked up to an old PC that causes it to play the the I
Love You song from the Barney television programme), turn on the strobe
that's hooked up to the old airport beacon I keep aimed at the entrance,
and slip out the back while your little dark men recover from the shock.
Then I'll circle around, scatter caltrops around their car tires and slip
away into the darkness. When they raid my house for the computers, all
they'll find are ssh clients (that I use to connect to my real computers,
which are colocated) an X Server (for hosting X11-forwarded apps from the
colocated computers), and an old 486 half-embedded in the cement of the
basement floor that, if they turn it on, will take a bit to boot up and
then send a signal across the serial cable (also buried in the cement floor)
to the box in the laundry room, which will release its catch and drop a
couple of pounds of sodium into that bucket of water, next to the gas line.

Re:For keeping better track of Employee blogs?

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

"It's different because on Slashdot, you can browse at -1. Moderators can never delete a post, just push it down a little.
"
-1 doesnt get archived. In effect all they have to do is downmod you and wait for the story to get archived and your post is gone forever.

"And downmods can't terminate your account, either"
Except for the IPban that comes with getting modded down too many times, and the 2post a day limit for bad karma. (neither of these are deletion, I'll give you that, but they are censorship.)

Embrace and extend, brethren.

[numbski]

And we all say "Amen".

Praise the lord, ye almight Gates, whose code is not flawless and security not impeded!

Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[cgranade]

Coming up next on your worst nightmare: blogspot, livejournal, movable type, etc. get sued for infringing on M$'s upcoming patent on blogs.
Note that this is a satirical post, so please don't think that I am claiming that M$ is going to patent blogs. I no way of knowing this.

Re:Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[Abcd1234]

Plus there's that whole prior art thingy... :)

Re:Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[cgranade]

That was part of the point... prior art has been nearly thrown out as a criteria for a successful patent these days. You know it's bad when someone literally patents a wheel.

Re:Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think that's happened. You're just making stuff up now.

Re:Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[jon3k]

Someone in australia already did patent the wheel.

Or maybe that was sarcasm? It never does translate too well through the typed word.

Re:Coming up next on your worst nightmare:

[che.kai-jei]

yeah well. this kid in america patented swinging sideways [on a swing] after his dad, a patent lawyer decided to show him "this is what daddy does at work".
cool huh

Sounds great...

[Anonymous Coward]

And when someone uses this feature, they'll get a big "Wallop" from the exploits in the document sharing code...

Thanks a lot microsoft, for making another security risk. The hackers will have a field day with this one!

Re:Sounds great...

[BuckaBooBob]

Don't sweat.. Because according to MS .. Everyone one will have firewalls to make thier systems secure :) Boy if MS ever gets into the firewall business :)

Re:Sounds great...

[MillionthMonkey]

And when someone uses this feature

What, you mean it won't be turned on automatically?

I can't wait for the articles to come out. "Find out if you're running a blog!"

Re:Sounds great...

[poot_rootbeer]

Boy if MS ever gets into the firewall business :)

What do you mean, "if"?

Not exactly an enterprise-level solution, but still...

Re:Sounds great...

[boskone]

what about this then for the enterprise? http://www.microsoft.com/ISAServer/

This is incredible

[Pingular]

MSN is being split into two subdivisions
First Microsoft was forced to split itself into 2 divisions, now they are actively doing it themselves. Maybe they've decided that more divisions is better for the company as a whole?

Re:This is incredible

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you're a fucking idiot.

Seriously...I don't think I've ever seen a post so void of actual content.

Re:This is incredible

[Anonymous Coward]

it's sir haxalot. what do you expect? he's an idiot.

Re:This is incredible

[Anonymous Coward]

yes Pingular is Sir Haxalot
MOD PARENT DOWN

Re:This is incredible

[DarthTaco]

"First Microsoft was forced to split itself into 2 divisions, now they are actively doing it themselves."

My friends, we have long believed that microsoft is a cancerous tumor on the prostate of society. Now, for all the world to see, we are witnessing Microsoft Mitosis.

Re:This is incredible

[LittleBigLui]

Maybe they've decided that more divisions is better for the company as a whole?

imagine a beow... *runs away screaming*

Re:This is incredible

[praxim]

That's MSN, not Microsoft.

Blog shmog

[stratjakt]

For the record, the article says "parts" of Wallop are going into Longhorn, probably the user/group management features and not a built in Blogging utility. Besides, Windows already has one - it's called notepad.

Now, here's the meat in this article:

On the presentation front, Rashid said Microsoft is advancing the state of the art and making it so that the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) can be used to do more general-purpose computations for things like simulations, user interface work, font rendering, and display management and manipulation. Some examples include geometry amplification on the GPU and pre-computed radiance transfer--for doing things like translucent objects, view-dependent displacement mapping and water rendering on the Xbox.

How cool is that? Now that 500mhz CPU on your fancy video card can actually do something useful.

Re:Blog shmog

[An Onerous Coward]

I think it's a cool idea to use the GPU to assist in performing other computations. To make this process even more powerful, I think they should integrate a GPU onto the CPU itself. That way, um... er...

I'll shut up now.

Re:Blog shmog

[MrNemesis]

Uh, isn't using the GPU to render the UI the same concept as Quartz Extreme on MacOSX?

Re:Blog shmog

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is this Rashid character and when did Microsoft start hiring terrorists?

Re:Blog shmog

[Hentai]

And the wheel of samsara turns another notch...

the blue screen blog

[simpl3x]

i want to know what my windows machine is thinking while it's trying to retain its memory. does it wish it was another os? does it wonder why this is happening again?... i mean didn't i just blue screen a few minutes ago for the very same reason? the blue screen would be the perfect place for such discussion. i'm sitting there captivated!

i want to know! tell me windows! how do you feel about this?

Re:the blue screen blog

[DarthTaco]

i want to know what my windows machine is thinking while it's trying to retain its memory. does it wish it was another os? does it wonder why this is happening again?... i mean didn't i just blue screen a few minutes ago for the very same reason?

That was a brilliant post! Definitely the funniest I've read today.

Re:the blue screen blog

[Anonymous Coward]

The blue screen would be more like looking at a dead body and trying to figure out what happened to the poor guy. He's definitely brain-dead, nothing is going on except a twitch here or there, so he's not feeling anything about it.

Hell...

[daeley]

Hell, they'll get Blogger if they take over Google.

And a Google disruption can mean only one thing: Invasion.

Re:Hell...

[Anonymous Coward]

Longhorn + DRM + Blogs + Google = Let the monitoring begin...

-Insert stale "overlords" joke here-

Re:Hell...

[Spellbinder]

one additional newspost about MS this weekend and i start to think Gates is a undercover newsposter at slashdot =((

Paid MSN messenger?

[Brahmastra]

But executives also determined that MSN's structure was making it harder for Microsoft to ensure that it remained permanently profitable, said David Cole, Microsoft's senior vice president in charge of MSN.
It's only a matter of time before MSN messenger becomes a paid service. Once enough people become dependent on it, they might be willing to pay a small subscription fee for it. I suspect microsoft is waiting for that.

Re:Paid MSN messenger?

[Brahmastra]

Screwed up the formatting.. the parent should really look like this:

But executives also determined that MSN's structure was making it harder for Microsoft to ensure that it remained permanently profitable, said David Cole, Microsoft's senior vice president in charge of MSN.

It's only a matter of time before MSN messenger becomes a paid service. Once enough people become dependent on it, they might be willing to pay a small subscription fee for it. I suspect microsoft is waiting for that.

they are after usenet archive as well...

[zasos]

Blogs and Usenet - that's what Micro$oft is after... The Usenet archive and Blogger worth a lot and that's why they'll try to take over Google..

Re:they are after usenet archive as well...

[nherc]

Yeah, because the worlds most popular search engine isn't really worth more than some blog tools, right?

/me thinks MS might buy Google for Google; blogger and the usenet archive would just be the icing on the cake.

Re:they are after usenet archive as well...

[zasos]

ok, fine... serch engine + Usenet + Blogs... blogging is a new market that will grow into a cake of its own...

Re:they are after usenet archive as well...

[Dan-DAFC]

Perhaps the search engine might not be the real attraction? "It's almost quaint to think of Google as a search engine, but the astronomical estimates for the value of its flotation are based on its potential value as an advertising business. Google's own google.com front page is a valuable property, but it's conceivable that the business could prosper without its free flagship public search." From this article on The Register.

Re:they are after usenet archive as well...

[Dan-DAFC]

In my head I visualised that post with copious whitespace. Life is such a disappointment (or maybe it's just my HTML skills).

No Integration.

[jellomizer]

It looks like Microsoft grand scheem for taking over the world is not going as planned with everything under one area integrated as one. But the real question is which segment will go away first the MSN or the Tools (I hope the tools), I meen by breaking them up it allows them to kill off one and not the other without making both look bad.
As for the blogs I really dont care eather way. This is not a supper killer feature it is one of Microsoft standerd things that make them say "Hey I'm Cool, I'm With it" type of thing. Even though Microsoft won the browser war. They were not able to get a strong foot hold in Internet Technologies. So the Blogging is one of those features are a so what anyone can program that.

Actually using the GPU for Graphics Processing

[fugoo]

Been there, Done that.. Yet another non-innovation.. Quartz Extreme (apple.com) has been in MacOSX for more then a year now. (thats 2 generations in OS years)

Re:Actually using the GPU for Graphics Processing

[Anonymous Coward]

You're wrong. Quartz Extreme writes most everything to the framebuffer, the work is done on the CPU. Even their own little flowchart on the link you provided says this. OpenGL goes to the GPU - Quartz3D is done in the CPU and sent to the framebuffer.

Re:Actually using the GPU for Graphics Processing

[Anonymous Coward]

Not only are you wrong about what quartz is and does (it's just another graphics API), you didn't bother reading the article.

This is about using the GPU (which is 99.999% idle when not playing games) to assist in other tasks.

Re:Actually using the GPU for Graphics Processing

[bigjnsa500]

And its still too slow.

MSN is being split into two subdivisions,

[GOD_ALMIGHTY]

one of which will be a ghetto for consumers (Win98 and XP home users), while the other will a gated community for corporate users (XP Professional, MS only shops) ;-)

Oh Boy...

[Mr. Dop]

...Another feature to patch.

And will this be as nearly impossible to remove (*cough* MSN Messenger *cough* XP) if you don't want it?

staggering

[selderrr]

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Microsoft will spend about $6.8 billion on research and development this year.

Amazing... they can spend all this money (without hardware R&D like Apple) and still don't get anywhere near MacOSX in terms of userfriendlyness.

I always wondered : do MS programmers/unit managers get a bonus for every feature they come up with ? In the past 10 years, bloat has been the only constant in redmond IMHO

Re:staggering

[Brandybuck]

I've pondered this question as well. But more than just "why can't they get a usable OS", I wonder "why can't they get a real server OS", and "why can't they get a secure OS."

The problem, as I see it, is internal corporate politics. Decision makers don't see the revenue benefits of usability, security and separate server and client systems. So they end up with interfaces that are only considered usable by fact that they are familiar, software firewalls that even M$ doesn't recommend, and "server" versions that are nothing more than the client versions with different defaults.

Re:staggering

[PainKilleR-CE]

MS has a seperate research division that isn't beholden to developing products, though. It's not like everything MSR comes up with goes into a product, nor is it necessary for MSR to apply money and time to something that MS wants for their next OS. SO, part of that $6.8 billion is just MSR's funding (which increases substantially every few years), while the rest of it is the R&D required for their products.

Re:staggering

[Anonymous Coward]

i don't really like the mac osx userfriendlyness/usability. i hate the mouse (shipped with a 1 button mouse? wtf, uhg.) not to forget about the keyboard it came with. the key presses feels like mushy play-do is underneath them and you can't adjust the tilt that it sits at. it has no legs for that, just some flimsy peice of plastic underneath that raises it a whole 1/12th of an inch. And I quite dislike the menuing system. but this is after 2 weeks on my first mac. it seems very dumbed down. I also don't feel like I can make good use of the screen space. and i have to resize the window by grabbing a certain corner? bleh, that takes too much mouse movement.

for everything i've heard about macs, it hardly comes close to being "great". I'd give my first 2 weeks on a mac a straight up "C" grade. I'd rather be working on Windows or XWindows (though I saw there is a version of XWindows for the update of OSX, maybe that would help me).

end rant.

Re:staggering

[selderrr]

okay, i can agree with that, but explain me why they can not come up with a decent network configuration assistant ????

You have NO IDEA what fucking pain it is to switch a machine from modem-connected to LAN-connected without getting the fucker to stop searching for his modem !

It's so insanely counter-intuitive ! If they'd spend 0.001% of their 6.8billion on some straightforward thinking and monkey-testing with newbie users, they would by now have found out their entire network configuration interface sucks square ducks. That's why I call it staggering : spending obscene amounts of money with zero advance in 'evident software usability' on even the most common fronts

Re:staggering

[PainKilleR-CE]

You have NO IDEA what fucking pain it is to switch a machine from modem-connected to LAN-connected without getting the fucker to stop searching for his modem !

You're right, I have no idea, because I bought my first PC in 1996 and have never owned a modem ;) Then again, I've never had a problem configuring my network, either.

As for a network configuration assistant, I'd rather see them just make it straight-forward. There's no point to assistants for all of this crap, I shouldn't have to go through a damned wizard when my network's already setup just because I launched IE to download my video drivers (since I've been using an Intel NIC for the last 4 years that always connects perfectly to my cable router via DHCP on installation of any version of Windows since 98).

I do have one simple idea for getting it to stop searching for the modem, though, disable it in the Device Mangler, or setup different hardware profiles if you still want to be able to use it (I didn't say I'd never used a computer with a modem in it ;).

The Retarded Child

[Anonymous Coward]

They're employing a divide and conquer strategy, unlike Time-Warner, who treated AOL like their secret retarded baby and hid it in the attic.

Microsoft vs. Slashdot

[Ridgelift]

Great, now they're going to steal the idea of a weblog, which Slashdot was the originator of.
I can see it now:

MS-Slashdot
News for Terds. Our stuff's in tatters.

Re:Microsoft vs. Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

$lashdot

Re:Microsoft vs. Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot was the originator of the weblog?

Did you hear about this on FoxNews?

Go Slashdot!

[MoxCamel]

Wow, just when I thought Slashdot was dead. Today we have: Microsoft is evil! (and here.
Bill Gates is evil!
SCO is evil!
RIAA is evil!
Fox is evil!

and of course...

Sex!

It's been quite a long time since I've been able to be quite so indignant!

Re:Go Slashdot!

[Anonymous Coward]

wow! with all those links, think of the slashdotting those guys are going to take....errr, oh wait

research, review...

[Empiric]

Blogs are Microsoft Research?

This just seems like a relatively trivial application-level chunk of code. But then I suppose any technologies existing anywhere which Microsoft wishes to integrate into the operating system are best-marketed as coming from "research". Observing as R&D... enviable position.

Re:research, review...

[Haeleth]

If somebody at Microsoft Research writes a relatively trivial application-level chunk of code, and they choose to integrate it into the OS, then, um, how else do you expect them to describe it?

Re:research, review...

[Empiric]

For most companies, a research department wouldn't be writing the equivalent of this. Research implies the most cutting-edge stuff a company has. It also implies some degree of originality.

Re:research, review...

[cgenman]

Blogs are every bit as valid a Microsoft Innovation as all of Microsoft's other Innovations.

Re:Off Topic - NEED HELP!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mebbe ur thinkin' uv : www.theyrule.net

Blog Screen of Death...

[tktk]

Great--in 2005, we'll be able to read millions of blogs about how often their computers are crashing.

April 20, 2005 12:12pm Computer crashed.

April 20, 2005 12:45pm Computer crashed again.

April 20, 2005 1:32pm And again.

April 21, 2005 Installed Linux

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Overly Critical Guy]

Why would we see that? I've never had XP crash. GNOME, on the other hand...

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[spudchucker]

That day would be 4/20/2005.
FOUR TWENTY
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Lizard_King]

This is kind of like a Clinton-Monica joke... its gettin' old.

I'm a Mac fanatic and wouldn't touch Windows if I wasn't forced to at work. I've been givin a Win XP Pro machine and its never crashed and I leave it on all the time.

I'm not supporting Windows nor endorsing it (like I would the Mac), but stability jokes show a certain ignorance.

You should know better... security jokes are much more timely =)

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Anonymous Coward]

because this is Slashdot. We have people that mod those that have a great experience switching from Linux to XP as flamebait yet we post stories to the front page about editors having problems understanding CTRL-C and CTRL-V during their weeklong "attempt" at XP.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Alan]

Gnome is not an OS. Gnome is a window manager. Please remember the separation of kernel and GUI that linux has which XP doesnt. If you get kernel panics and the box locks up completely, then you can say you've had Linux crash. Saying that gnome crashes is like saying that you've had the task bar in XP crash.

As for XP crashing, yea, it's pretty stable, almost as stable as Linux. Sadly because the GUI is coupled so tightly with the OS, having an IE crash or your video drivers mess up sometimes means that your have to reboot.

Of course, if I counted the reboots I have to do to install application upgrades as crashes..... :)

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Inhibit]

One's a Window Manager, the other's an OS. That's a cat's and oranges comparison.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never had XP crash.

Then you probably haven't been using it properly.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you some sort of Nazi? April 20 is Adolph Hitler's birthday.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[beyonddeath]

im already on crash 11 today and im running win xp, with the latest drivers, virus scanner runs nightly, ran spyware s&d every day (same with ad aware) and it still crashes... there is no stopping it. it is INEVITABLE

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Minna Kirai]

Gnome is not an OS.

Not an OS? What is an OS? Ah, an "Operating System". So if it isn't an OS, it must be a Non-Operating System. Therefore those crashes were totally expected!

Seriously though, every piece of software which provides critical support to another layer of software running on top of it is an "Operating System", and any crash should be treated as an exceptionally bad event. If your computer runs Gnome, then it's probably a desktop or workstation, and a crash of Gnome will suddenly terminate the applications you'd been using. To the end-user, that's just as bad as an OS crash! It's not as if data that was unsaved when Gnome died will be recoverable. The process is dead.

Being able to claim "The Linux kernel didn't crash, it was just Xfree86 or KDE or Gnome" is nothing to be proud of.

Gnome is a window manager

That is specifically untrue. Gnome doesn't manage windows, and in fact requires you to have some actual Window Manager running before it can work. Popular WM choices for Gnome users include enlightenment, sawfish, and metacity. There's a whole category of "Gnome-compatible Window Managers" out there.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Minna Kirai]

It's a fine comparison.

One is software that supports interactive desktop applications. But, the other is software that supports interactive desktop applications!

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Anonymous Coward]

Anything that's critical is an OS, eh? What about that term paper I just lost to Word? Since Word's critical to me, Word is an OS.

That's nonsense. The distiction between OS and application is not an arbitrary distinction that CS people talk about that doesn't affect the real world. Got an app that crashes? Run a different app. Gnome crashed? Don't use it. Simple problem, simple solution, and you can still use Linux too.

Meanwhile when Windows crashes, well...your options are to deal with it or switch OSes.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not a joke. We've got two groups of people: Group A have been running XP and it's never crashed, Group B have been running XP and it has crashed. It's very strange, but Group A seems to think Group B doesn't exist, but Group B has no problems recognizing that Group A exists. When someone in Group B states that it's 2003 fercryingoutloud and Windows should stop crashing already, people in Group A think it's a joke. It isn't. It IS 2003 and an OS that crashes when there's no hardware failure is just plain UNACCEPTABLE.

Luckily, as more people use XP for longer and longer periods of time, the membership of Group B grows and the membership of Group A shrinks. At some point, Group A (and perhaps even Microsoft) will recognize the existence of Group B and do something about it.

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[jrockway]

If you don't want XP to crash, you can't use XP.

If you don't want GNOME to crash under Linux, then you CAN use XFCE or something under Linux. At least the base (Linux kernel) is stable. I had 1 month of solid uptime in XFCE before I unplugged my computer and, uh, lost the uptime :)

Re:Blog Screen of Death...

[turgid]

but stability jokes show a certain ignorance.

Well, if you're like me you last used DOS and Windows at home in 1996 and at work in 2000 (NT4). Ignorance is therefore inevitable.

Re:Off Topic - NEED HELP!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

YES I WAS!!!

Now it is YOU who rules...

Thanks a million!!!

Found the Link

[Altima(BoB)]

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/29/14 21223&mode=thread&tid=109&tid=187 My HTML skills really suck, sorry for not formatting it, but it was the first thing to jump into my head when I read the article.

I'll bet Clippy's going to make a reappearance

[The Evil Couch]

"It looks like you're writing an angsty letter.

Would you like me to

• Look up badly written pop-metal songs to quote?
  
• Begin capitalizing and bolding every swear word?
  

Late to the party

[poptones]

I've had a blogging engine - no, actually a wiki engine but I'm the only one using it - as part of my desktop for more than a year now. And I have a friend who picked up on the idea himself after seeing how handy it was. I'm surprised there aren't more who have discovered this.

Just think about making notes on a project, recording all that misc data that you tell yourself to remember but never do - and right there, in the browser and one click away, is a full featured web server. All my downloaded files go into one repository along with HTML-ized notes on when and why and even a copy of the website if I want it. It's trivial to do because the wiki does all the work according to my configs.

The best part is the wiki markup. This is something that ALL WEBSITES (hint hint) should make part of their text entry fields. Why use <b> when I can just type **bold text**? Or <i> when //italicized text// is so much quicker and easier? The mozilla people realized this ages ago as well, but apparently these lessons are lost on SOTA websites like /. ;)

But I guess the crew at /. have more to worry about than text entry features, what with all those ERROR 500 server errors...

Re:Late to the party

[Bish.dk]

"I've had a blogging engine - no, actually a wiki engine but I'm the only one using it - as part of my desktop for more than a year now."

Microsoft seems to almost never enter into a market first. Just think about browsers. They're pretty good at leaving victorious, though.

Re:Late to the party

[Eponymous Coward]

I tried this for a little while too and I ended up abandoning it.

I keep my notes in a plain text file. It's browsable and searchable with no overhead.

There were a few things that made me uncomfortable about the wiki (moinmoin).
1) I was never quite sure how to back it up (or restore it).
2) I couldn't figure out if I would be able to move to a different wiki later if moinmoin became abondonware.
3) The camel-caps for topic headings conflicted too much with notes about source code. When I read a page, a lot of variable names were underlined in red signifying that they were a link to nowhere. It was tedious to have to re-edit a page to shut that off.

I would be interested though in a more detailed description of how you are using the wiki.

-ec

Re:censorware vs sims

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is Michael Sims? I mean I know who he is, but this posting didn't link him to anything here, so it's hard to see the relevance.

Welcome to sunny club GITMO!

[Anonymous Coward]

GODDAMN, it's like Ted Kaczynski's "to do" list!

Microsoft Longhorn

[ayjay29]

"Microsoft Longhorn"

Now there's an oxymoron for you.

Re:tired of /. editors?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a certain tool there that doesn't really work. Any plans to fix it?

Wow 5 Microsoft Articles

[PPGMD]

Kind of cool seeing 5 Microsoft articles on the front page, you can't say /. doesn't cover MS, even if 90% of the comments modded up are negative.

fuddles adds 'stuff that really matters' to his..

[Anonymous Coward]

billyonerrors' ?pr? ?firm? FUDgeFest?

you can tell where his homepage is?

14-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.56 - $25.65 per share. $25,605,0002
14-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,600,0001
13-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.53 - $25.77 per share. $25,650,0002
13-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,730,0001
12-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.54 - $25.76 per share. $25,650,0002
12-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,610,0001
11-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.58 - $25.85 per share. $25,715,0002
11-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,580,0001
8-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.58 - $25.88 per share. $25,730,0002
8-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,710,0001
7-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,650,0001
7-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Sale at $25.49 - $25.78 per share. $25,635,0002
6-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 1,000,000 Planned Sale $25,660,0001
6-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 443,418 Sale at $25.64 - $25.85 per share. $11,416,0002
6-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 325,246 Sale at $25.851 - $26.03 per share. $8,437,0002
6-Aug-03 GATES, WILLIAM H. III
Chairman 231,336 Sale at $26.04 - $26.16 per share. $6,038,0002

meanwhile, fuddles' hostages pay big bucks to remain captive, whilst fuddles spends their money, trying to asphyxiate their rescuers, the hobbyist dogooders, buy use of corepirate nazi softwar gangster execrable MiSdeeds. lookout bullow. tell 'em robbIE?

What's the over/under?

[PhiltheeG]

on when their blog will suffer a critical security exploit?

I don't see why Microsoft is handing out more matches while trying to put out their own fires...

Their marketing division....

[Bendebecker]

Their marketing division must be drunk. 'Wallop'? 'SHell'?

Blog and Apple : already done

[Lord Satri]

FYI: Apple ALREADY integrated the iBlog software (free with .mac). User blogs are posted on user's .mac webpage.

[doesn't every /. article has to talk about Apple ;-)]

Re:Blog and Apple : already done

[kgp]

Well no they haven't.

They have a customized version of iBlog that only works to the local drive or .Mac -- the Blogger API part is disabled (way to go on de facto standards) that's availible for another 26 days (until Nov 26th). Hardly an integrated solution.

I guess its a carrot for Lifi to sell the "whole" product.

I actually thought Apple would do this for 10.3 and they may still do it (they have to show something at MWSF in January or perhaps WWDC).

Perhaps add it to iLife or Safari?

Macosx, Quartz and Quartz 'Extreme'

[fugoo]

without going to far into it, heres what apple has to say about their technology. Any MacOSX user can attest to this providing real tangible benifits on their system From the Apple link in the parent post: (yea it's marketing, but it's not false) "Quartz uses the integrated OpenGL technology to convert each window into a texture, then sends it to the graphics card to render on screen..." "Quartz Extreme uses a supported graphics card built into your Mac to relieve the main PowerPC chip of on screen calculations. This dramatically improves system performance..." Of course the CPU is involved however, QE is CPU independent as the requirements are for a GPU... "Quartz Extreme functionality is supported by the following video GPUs: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti or any AGP-based ATI RADEON GPU. A minimum of 16MB VRAM is required." This is all moot, since no windows user will have longhorn (legally) in their hands for another 12+ months or so, please let me know when some Linux distro gets around to it too.. -fugoo

Re:Macosx, Quartz and Quartz 'Extreme'

[PainKilleR-CE]

without going to far into it, heres what apple has to say about their technology. Any MacOSX user can attest to this providing real tangible benifits on their system From the Apple link in the parent post: (yea it's marketing, but it's not false) "Quartz uses the integrated OpenGL technology to convert each window into a texture, then sends it to the graphics card to render on screen..." "Quartz Extreme uses a supported graphics card built into your Mac to relieve the main PowerPC chip of on screen calculations. This dramatically improves system performance..." Of course the CPU is involved however, QE is CPU independent as the requirements are for a GPU...

You do realize, of course, that what you just described is a 2D graphics system that actually uses more CPU time to display standard graphics, and then uses the GPU to apply effects, right? Essentially, what they're saying is that they get all of the information you would normally need to display a 2D GUI, convert the various windows on the screen into textures (which is the part that takes more CPU power than the usual display methods), and then sends all of the information and textures to the GPU for processing and adding effects like shadows. The only increase in speed is with things like resizing and moving windows, where the GPU can easily resize or move an existing texture fairly quickly, as well as little effects like spinning and flipping windows around. Essentially you get a slower interface, but when you add QE you get a lot of effects for free (so the effects don't slow the system down).

This is all moot, since no windows user will have longhorn (legally) in their hands for another 12+ months or so, please let me know when some Linux distro gets around to it too

There are a handful of Explorer replacements (and add-ons) for Windows and various X11 and DE replacements for *nix that utilize various GPUs to utilize OpenGL or DirectX in various manners for the GUI of the operating systems in question. In some cases they go all out and make the environment a 3D space, while in others they just accelerate the rendering or add effects that would otherwise be too slow.

Re:Macosx, Quartz and Quartz 'Extreme'

[fugoo]

Well in that case it's a darn good thing its integrated into the OS and our chips are more efficient (~1.75:1) isn't it?

=P

Re:Macosx, Quartz and Quartz 'Extreme'

[PainKilleR-CE]

Well in that case it's a darn good thing its integrated into the OS

Well, it's a darn good thing Explorer's about as integrated into Windows as the glasses I'm wearing are integrated into my body (in other words, not at all), so replacements aren't a big deal, except that some of them are more or less optimal than they should be.

and our chips are more efficient (~1.75:1) isn't it?

1.75:1 sounds a bit like the numbers Apple published, but doesn't hold close to anything else I've seen. Of course, that all assumes you have a shiny new G5.

Re:Macosx, Quartz and Quartz 'Extreme'

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a Mac user and I want to punch you for being a fucking retarded zealot.

longhorn extravaganza..

[gl4ss]

..continues.

people, it doesn't matter what they announce longhorn to have at this point! they don't even take them(features set&announced) seriously themselfs yet, such features(as this) that are pretty simple to add in mere weeks or month s time don't really matter if they're announced or not.

it's not really new to them(ms&some other companies) to announce things and then quietly drop it later once they've stalled for long enough that nobody even remembers what cool stuff there were supposed to be in it.

Re:This isn't a SCO story!

[daehrednud]

Whoah, looks like you've just innovatinoned a new word! Congrats!

Get out your boots

[Anonymous Coward]

The Microsoft Longhorn Marketing Machine is in full gear. Except the BS to get thicker and deeper.

MSN is being split into two subdivisions

[SharpFang]

MSN is being split into two subdivisions

Called MICROSO~1.MSN and MICROSO~2.MSN ?

Re: MSN is being split into two subdivisions

[spockman]

That would be MICROS~1.MSN and MICROS~2.MSN, 8.3 not 9.3, good ole DOS ya know!

Home User

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Not a great many home users currently use their computer as a webserver, although that's certainly possible. But I shudder a little bit to think that every grandma in the country will be running a blog on the IIS built into their computer, and leaving it on on their broadband connection 24/7, since now they have something to serve.

Won't this magnify the security issues surrounding MSFT's web serving software? Although it will help to inflate IIS's marketshare, too, once 95% of 200 million people start using it for their home based sites...

Re:Home User

[spitzak]

Almost certainly the blog data will be stored in a central location, and you will probably need an MSN account to use this (though they may try to make MSN come with Windows for "free")

News Flash: Microsoft adds blogging...

[PrintError]

...and entire testing staff gets fired for trying it out. Cats make excellent snipers.

Halloween??

[moonboy]

Halloween or Microsoft Day?

Stories invloving MS on Slashdot so far today:

• 
  Google Considering Merger With Microsoft
  Microsoft's new CLI
  Gates: 'You don't need perfect code' for Security
  Microsoft Adding Blogs to Longhorn?
  

I suppose next we'll have another Halloween Document and the day will be complete ;-)

Happy Halloween!!

Don't be silly

[commodoresloat]

Blogs are an integral part of the OS.

hopefully...

[andih8u]

...by the time Longhorn comes out the whole blog thing will have died. Here's a sample from a CNN article a few weeks ago....

There are over 4 million blogs on the net, more than half run by teenagers. Research group Perseus says the typical blog is written by a teenage girl who updates it about twice a month. Sites such as Diaryland and Blogspot make it easy for anyone to launch one. Even AOL is hosting web logs, a sign that this trend has hit the big time. There are predictions the net will be littered with 5 million blogs by the end of the year. But unlike www.bigwhiteguy.com most of them will be little seen, if not abandoned. At least two thirds of the blogs out there today have not been updated in months.

Re:hopefully...

[Dagum]

Let's hope that it does die out by the time a major OS provides it to the next batch of teenagers.

We don't need still more drivelous rambelings cluttering our search results.

Did anyone else read this as...

[adamshelley]

"Microsoft Adding Bugs to Longhorn?"

Microsoft is talking about all this new funtionality thats going to be put into longhorn. Although these features sound great, shouldn't they decide on a feature set and then work to make it stable?

With open source development features seem to be "planned", not just stuck in so they can include buzzwords in their advertising. By MS incorporating all of these features which, IMO most probably could just be at the application level, they will be adding bugs all over the place.

Now security bugs are the worst because they compromise your personal information but I find it really annoying when something doesn't work the way it should. With all of these pieces interacting with each other how easy to use is long horn going to really be? How many of the features are going to work fully and how many are just going to break other ones? When do we draw the line? What features are actually useful to an OS? Don't you think by incorportating all of these things within the OS itself MS is actually taking away 3rd party opportunities. Can't this be done at the application level? Why not release a MS Blogger so for us who might want to use it, we'll go get it. For the rest, they can choose to not run one at all or one of their choice?

Remember "set program access and defaults"? I can imagine microsoft having to add last minute hacks in so that we can actually use our own software.

Maybe they are planning to add security by only allowing their code to run on it. Pretty soon our computers will be contacting a microsoft address to be granted priviliages to run your own code. Sometimes i hear people complaining that linux distros are full of bloat but c'mon. A blogger in an OS? Why?

sure thing

[poptones]

you're not gonna like this, but I use openwiki. It's not only ASP based, it uses gawd awful vbscript for everything. But I'd still rather edit vbscript (I have it fairly customized) than perl, which is what most of the apache solutions I've seen use.

Because it's just me I use the access database version, which makes it a breeze to backup. In fact, after several migrations I've yet to lose ANYTHING, and that includes the ass-large flat directory where all my misc. downloads are stored.

It should also be fairly trivial to migrate. I'm still hoping to find something I can run without having a dedicated box to host it (I use an old recycled 200MHz vectra) and when I do, "migration" should be little more than migrating the database fields to the new system.

OpenWiki is pretty powerful. It uses css and xml and is very modular, which makes it way easy to modify. Unfortunately it seems to be abandonware, and I don't like it enough to learn how EVERY little detail works so a couple of features I really, really want I cannot add. And, frankly, I've never found another wiki engine that has all the features I have already, so moving to another platform means I not only have to start from scratch, I have to learn new code as well.

I'm hoping the project that was mentioned here a while back as part of the gnome desktop will mature enough that I can jump in with both feet. When I read the description at the site it looked like he already had much of the stuff I want to add to mine (automatic logging of every URL and cataloging the pages in a searchable database - like a personal history google, for one) so I've been giving some serious thought to jumping in there.

The problem with that so far has been my main machine, a 1.6GHz AMD, has some serious issues with every linux distro I've tried to install on it! I'm sure it's a motherboard issue, and it runs every version of windows just fine. But you gotta hold your mouth just so to even get it where it will reboot after the first step of a redhat install, so I ain't screwing with it until I decide on a new motherboard. And that ain't happening until I save the pennies for one of those cool new 6MP SLR Digital Rebels.

Then I bet I can really start filling up that database...

Re:sure thing

[Eponymous Coward]

It sounds like some of my worries are a little justified.

MoinMoin is a Python wiki and it runs just about anywhere. Not sure how the feature set compares to OpenWiki, but it seems to be relatively complete, widely used, and actively developed.

On my machine MySQL is the backend database and I suppose it would also be easy to migrate. Unfortunately, I don't know a damned thing about MySQL. It's definitely not as new-user-friendly as Access is.

I'll probably give the wiki another go, but I'm still not really sure what a good way to organize my info would be. Guess free form is as good as any for now...

Thanks for the insights.

-ec

microsoft love-fest today?

[skydude_20]

sheesh, the umpteen article yet about our beloved microsoft.

At first glance...

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it said "Adding Bloat".

Wow. Like that's something new.

P2P also?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because MS is researching something doesn't mean it's going to be in Longhorn... check out Pastry.

Thanks for the innovation, MS

[ENOENT]

We wouldn't know what to do without blogging integrated into our OS.

[sarcasam] ya right [/sarcasam]

[halo8]

Ya.. right

because when longhorn is released in 2-3 years blogs wont be a fad anymore

whatEVER

Here's idea...

[sammaffei]

Let's create a phony standard, premote the hell out of it, and see how long it takes Microsoft to say they are implementing it.

Buzzwords for Buzzbrains.

Only 3 more years...

[commander salamander]

Excellent! I just have to wait until 2006 to start my blog! ...or, I could download Movable Type today. Of course, I'd miss out on all the great wizards if I did that.

"It looks like you are trying to write a Microsoft-bashing post! Would you like me to manually delete it for you, or do you want your Windows license to be revoked?"

Minor Correction

[serutan]

For the record, it's "Lili Cheng" not Chang.

Let the LongHorn extrava-blowme-ganza continue!

[cr@ckwhore]

The last couple of days have produced a flood of LongHorn related FUD being propigated around the media ... it hasn't been covered here at Slashdot yet, but I read a few interesting items yesterday ...

-- Microsoft research has yielded a new feature which will be included in LongHorn ... a special key stroke on the keyboard will cause your computer to dispense ice cream from the floppy drive.

-- Microsoft research has also found a way to incorporate a george foreman grill directly into the operating system. Users will no longer need to purchase a separate piece of hardware ... with LongHorn, the cd-tray will be able to accept and grill hamburger patties.

-- In another Microsoft research innovation, LongHorn will be able to determine the users emotions and can react accordingly. For example, if the user is feeling sad, LongHorn will emit cute furry kittens, to the user's delight, from various fan ports in the case. Some newer model PC's will support puppies as well.

I'm sure there's more ... these are just a few of the major points I've seen going around.

Logic problem

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with the logic in the following scenarios:

1) Amy still runs Windows for Workgroups. Bob says Windows for Workgroups is unstable. Amy says it's never crashed for her, therefore Bob is wrong.

2) Amy just lost a lot of data when Word crashed. Bob says the app may have crashed, but the OS didn't. Amy is still pissed off, therefore Bob is wrong.

See the problem? Now extrapolate. One non-crashing XP box doesn't mean XP doesn't crash. A crashing app on Linux does not mean Linux crashes.

What you probably mean to say was "XP may crash, but it's stable enough for most people and a lot of people have never seen it crash. Besides, application crashes are just as annoying to users, and there are plenty of crashy apps on all platforms."

Re:Logic problem

[Anonymous Coward]

YHBT. YHL. HAND.

OpenDoc History Lesson

[NullProg]

For those of you new to computing, this isn't a new concept.

http://www.wohl.com/g0021.htm

Enjoy,

Talk about your privacy nightmares...

[Denyer]

...first we have applications broadcasting to the world, now... oh, blogs! ;)

I hope search engines have an option to uncheck searching within such things before this goes mainstream.

/. Shilling for Microsoft?

[Jack Auf]

What is up with the torrent of Longhorn stories on /. lately? The product is at least two, and more likely three, years away!

From the Jargon file:

vaporware: /vayprweir/, n.

Products announced far in advance of any release (which may or may not actually take place).

It's vaporware!

Is the frequency of these stories in any way influenced by the fact that Microsoft is a frequent advertiser on /.? I already know what I think, you draw your own conclusions.

Misread...

[the endless]

I refuse to believe I was the only one who misread that as "Microsoft Adding Bugs to Longhorn?" and thought "geez, aren't there enough already?"

Halloween Document

[Anonymous Coward]

I knew there was something ominously missing from today...

Re:censorware vs sims

[Anonymous Coward]

Michael Sims is a known homosexual and child (young boy) molester who also edits for slashdot. It is widly thought that a priest raped him as a child and that made him what he is today, but he has refused all requests for interviews, so no one knows for sure.

Happy to oblige...

[Dan-DAFC]

I for one welcome our new stale overlords.

Longhorn release timeline suggests...

[3seas]

.... that MS is market testing possibilities of what to add to longhorn. Which amounts to the request for comments and other ideas and specifics issues... They will then sekll back to you and those who gave in the request.

I hate to say this...

[Anonymous Coward]

... but this is the first time ever I'm curious about Windows. Finnally they are under some pressure through OS X and the open source community and have to add/change some things to/in their OS.

Microsoft's favourite word:

[nunofgs]

Integration. Next they'll be telling us you can't remove the blogging software since it's part of the OS and would make it non-functional

Logic

[tetsuo13]

But executives also determined that MSN's structure was making it harder for Microsoft to ensure that it remained permanently profitable, said David Cole, Microsoft's senior vice president in charge of MSN.

In business, nothing should be considered "permanently profitable." This is pure MS business thinking here.

How much is too much?

[miffo.swe]

Am i the only one who needs an OS and not every application ever written? Sure MS can and should make applications too but why cram them into the OS with a hammer and vaseline? A more modular approach would benefit everyone in the long run.

I dont think MS is capable of imagening themselves being able to compete on merits. They are so tuned into forcefeeding people that they have forgotten hoeto listen to their customers and deliver what they want.

This constant bundling and tight integration of apps into the OS is getting silly.

advertisements on blogs now?

[LuxFX]

Oh great so now there will be an advertisement on the bottom of every blog post? Like all those advertisements I get on the bottom of emails from Hotmail people.

Just like Microsoft to turn something virtually free, with such an open community spirit, into something branded-up-the-whazoo to generate revenue for them....

Old news

[FuzzzyLogik]

not sure if anyone else mentioned this, but by the time longhorn actually comes out, blogging will be old news... and something else will take it's place..

I nearly thought it read...

[Malfeas]

...that Microsft was adding bugs to Longhorn.

Not likely

[bstadil]

It's only a matter of time before MSN messenger becomes a paid service. Once enough people become dependent on it, they might be willing to pay a small subscription fee for it

I am not sure the Inertia biz model will work here. The reason is that it takes two or more to tango before IM is useful. If your friend(s) has switched to a free service like Jabber, then what are you going to do?

Follow or Pay MS plus try and convince your friend to do likewise?

Hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

One thing's for sure, Microsoft does know how to integrate things seamlessly. I'm moving back to Longhorn once it's released -- after 7 painful years with Linux. All is fine but the fun's dying out. Ease of development on Windows... The multitude of third-party applications. I'm beginning to miss them all.

Linux is good, it's great. Don't get me wrong. Not yet for the end-user and definitely not for the ones who love classy looking stuff.

remember windows '98?

[mstamat]

With Windows '98 Microsoft was proudly proclaiming that they integrated the browser with the OS, thus unifying and enhancing the user experience. I remember hearing stupid quotes like "The browser is the OS" and other crap from these days.
Microsoft said that because in '98, surfing the web was supposedely the coolest thing around. Today weblogs are considered cool, so Microsoft goes that way. They just want to make the "average" user eager to pay them to get the new "cool" features.
Personally I don't expect anything exciting from Longhorn's weblogging features.

Will MS employees be discouraged from using it?

[unassimilatible]

I'll assume MS will have an acceptable use policy, which will include not posting purchased Mac photos?

WOW...

[DrakeX]

and this from a company who, a decade ago, said the internet was going nowhere.

I know this move

[holzp]

1. Wait for something to become interesting.
2. Copy it yourself and roll into your operating system monopoly.
3. Profit!

MODS ON CRACK COCAINE!

[Anonymous Coward]

How the parent post be off-topic? It addresses the point that MS might include file/document sharing capabilities over the internet.

MODS are stupid.

I say, I say look HERE, now...

[A_Non_Moose]

[Foghorn Leghorn voice]
What's the big idea putting blogs in longhorn?

Next thing you know they'll call it Bloghorn ! And that's just a little, I say, a little TOO close for comfort.

Sympathy for the developer

[Anonymous Coward]

Think of those poor MS developers rolling their eyes at meetings every time some suit comes up with a nifty new user-friendly feature to bloat Windows with. Don't just be angry. They're hurting too.

You Must Be Proud

[Anonymous Coward]

Since you keep getting biters to your same, tired old trolling material.

You may have Excellent karma now, but just wait. The punishment will soon commence.

how insidious...

[Kargan]

Now Microsoft doesn't just want to know everything about the hardware on your machine, no...they want to know your most intimate personal thoughts! They will glean the blog entries of their user base and use peoples' deepest fears and desires to further enhance their market stranglehold! Muahahahaaaaaa!! Ahhahahaaaaa!! Haaaah*choke, cough, splutter*

Hah. By that time...

[salimma]

.. we would all be running Dashboard and Storage.

Oddly Enough

[Emperor Tiberius]

Oddly enough, /wallop is an IRC command. Seems fitting enough for Microsoft to steal, and then "coin" the term.

Oh boy more useless cr@p

[blaksaga]

Oh boy, more useless cr@p in an already useless and cr@ppy OS. ANd let me guess, these features are "closely tied to the OS" and cannot be uninstalled?...and whenever the crappily coded blog apps fail it brings the whole system down? Ha...this really doesn't even concern me anymore as I am now 100% MS free with gentoo linux and lovin every minute of it. Does MS really need to add more useless bulk???

Slashdot obligated to do marketing for owner

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course. These bursts of activity follow other embarassing news. You hardly see anything really critical or negative about MS here, just straw dogs. You have to look at CNN or Reuters to catch a glimpse of those.

D'oh

[Mathness]

I misread that as "Microsoft adding bloat to Longhorn", and thought what's new about that? Guess I have been reading /. too long ;p